My love for horses… in miniature!

Posts Tagged ‘bridle’

I’m attempting to make at least one tack piece every month this year. This weekend I had time to put together the first, a western bridle made to fit Breyer’s “Wyatt” mold:

This was based off a photo of a Billy Royal bridle. I chose it because there were two new things I wanted to try making: the knotted browband and the leather ties attaching it to the bit.

The browband was a lot easier than I thought it would be. (good reference photos help so much!) The stitching shouldn’t go all the way to the end though. I always make my browbands too big at first, and made the mistake of adding the stitches before fitting it properly. Something to keep in mind for next time anyway…!

But aside from that minor detail, I’m really happy with this bridle.

The leather ties work just like the full-sized ones do. There’s no way I’ll be changing the bit out though, so they are glued in place, but I love the added detail.

I also love details like this, which you can’t even see but it’s still there so it makes me happy:

Over the years I’ve collected a lot of hardware for tack making. A lot of pieces were tag-along items to Rio Rondo orders I was placing anyway, but I never realized just how much I had until I piled it all together. I’m not even sure what I have to be honest, and that’s embarrassing.

One of my New Year’s resolutions was to use up what I’ve got, so that’s exactly what I’ve been trying to do.

The next project to tackle was an English Hackamore.

I admit I’m a bit hesitant to share this – I’m afraid of being accused of copying another artist when the reality is just a coincidence. I tried to make mine as different as I could though, so hopefully it’s ok.

The Portuguese bridle fought me but that was nothing compared to the hackamore. This one seriously made me wonder why I even bother at all. Does anyone else ever feel that way? It probably doesn’t help that I’ve been feeling out of sorts for a couple weeks now.

Another problem could be that this is a first attempt at a hackamore. My real horse knowledge is lacking (and probably shows, haha) but I’m trying. 😦

Still, I managed to finish it in the end, and there are plenty of things about it that irritate me, but it’s done!